Drowning in Love - Kelsie Rae Page 0,3
done talking to me and will now be scolding Bertie for the next fifteen minutes.
“Look. I gotta go,” I tell Gem as I step up to the counter. “Don’t chew her out too much. I’ll be there in a few.”
“Bye! But seriously, Bertie––” The call goes dead, and I’m left rolling my eyes at my astrology-loving friend as I give our orders.
Balancing four coffees with one arm, I swing open the glass door to Polished Magazine’s headquarters, then lift my chin at the receptionist, Bertie.
“You are a freaking lifesaver. You know that, right?” she tells me. The girl is decked out in a black Beatles shirt with a black blazer on top, black pants, and––you guessed it––black stiletto heels that could easily stab her ex’s jugular if she was feeling particularly feisty. Which, based on her attire and coffee choice, I’m going to say is very possible.
“How you doing, Bertie?” I ask.
“Gem’s right. I never should’ve dated a Leo.”
“Please tell me you’re not actually drinking the zodiac Kool-Aid, Bertie.”
“I’m sorry, but have you seen all the memes floating around? They’re like…almost never wrong.”
“Almost being the key word,” I jest.
“Come on. Gem’s right. Leos are suckers for all the attention, and if they’re not getting enough from you, they’re going to go elsewhere and find it in the bed of one of your friends.”
I gasp. “No. He didn’t.”
“Oh. But he did,” Bertie grits out before nabbing the coffee from my hands.
With the cup hovering an inch from her mouth, her eyes narrow into thin slits. “Did you add sugar?”
“And sweeten the black coffee that matches your ex’s soul?” I clutch at my chest dramatically. “Of course not.”
There’s a ghost of a smile on Bertie’s face before she covers it with the lip of her cup and takes a deep pull from the liquid of the gods. After an appreciative hum, she adds, “Good girl.”
The phone on her desk rings. Bertie purses her lips before plopping back into her black leather chair and answering it with a syrupy, sweet voice that makes me cringe.
“Polished Magazine, how can I help you?”
Waving my fingers through the air in a silent goodbye, I head straight to the conference room where our meeting is being held. The entire floor is decorated with straight lines, black furniture with gray and silver accents, and glass walls that leave little room for privacy. Still, it’s my home away from home, and I kind of love it here.
“Hey, guys. Sorry, I’m late.” I hand Gem her pumpkin spice latte, then give Jess her usual iced mocha.
“You’re actually five minutes early,” Gem points out. “But even if you were late, you’d still be forgiven because you brought caffeine. Thanks for the coffee. How much do I owe you?”
“Nah, you’re good. I got it covered.”
“Nonsense,” Jess interjects. “If you didn’t put it on the company card, then ask for reimbursement. You’re too damn nice, Nora.”
“Agreed. You’re making the rest of us look bad,” Gem adds before taking a sip of her drink.
Raising my hands in surrender, I sit at the cool granite conference table, then tap my fingers against the surface. “Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard this all before. I’ll put in the paperwork for the twenty dollars’ worth of coffee later today. Happy now?”
“Why, yes. Yes, we are,” Jess quips. “Now. Let’s get this meeting started, shall we? How are sales for the cruise going?”
My best friend opens the Macbook Pro in front of her. The clicking of her keyboard is the only response she gives before looking up and grinning. “They’re looking really good. My only real concern is the ratio between the men and the women.”
I grimace. “Yeah…that would be pretty sucky if Polished Magazine’s first-ever Written in The Stars Singles’ Cruise was flooded with women who purchased their tickets hoping they’d meet their soulmate while on the ship, only to find out there aren’t any men to meet. I’m pretty sure that would be a disaster.”
“Agreed,” Jess pipes in. “Which means we need to figure out a way for the cruise to appeal to more men.”
“I was actually thinking about that on the way in. Gem had mentioned the sales earlier this week, and we’ve been doing a little brainstorming,” I explain. “What if we do a few giveaways, or maybe even drop the price super low, but only advertise the reduced rate in our brother company, Volt.”
“I think that’s a great idea,” Jess answers.
“I also think we should downplay the whole astrology piece in the ad so that